jtcochran.com

View-Worthy: 5.23.13

May 23, 2013 5:30 pm / Leave a Comment /

There are a lot of excellent Christian bloggers out there and many of them post daily. In an effort to assist readers find valuable reading, I ReTweet my three favorite reads that I’ve read each day.

View-Worthy is the daily post at jtcochran.com which shares these view-worthy reads from the previous day. All I’ve done is embedded my ReTweets from the previous day. Simply click through the link to enjoy these excellent reads. I encourage you to add these bloggers or blogs to your blog roll, rss feed, or follow them on twitter.

Disclaimer: This post provides valuable information on Piper’s controversial tweet and the conversation around that tweet. This blogger does not agree with the view of Rachel Evans. This simply serves as a means for people to understand the context around Desiring God’s post regarding the tweet.

Posted in: View Worthy / Tagged: , ,

Discovering Christian Blogging: Blogger Stephen Altrogge

May 23, 2013 6:00 am / Leave a Comment /
Series Introduction:

Christian Blogging is not only popular but it is also a profession. Blogs as a medium are a valuable resource to receive spiritual edification, news, popular commentary on current events through a Christian lens, and insight to finding valuable resources (books, music, et al.) at discounted prices. Blogs essentially are a wonderful learning environment accessed at a reader’s leisure.

Yet, many Christians are not aware of this valuable resource. Not only this but they are not familiar with who to follow on platforms such as Twitter or to subscribe to via e-mail or their RSS Reader like Feedly.The purpose of this series is to identify and interview exceptional Christian Bloggers in order to introduce people to their blogging ministry. I hope you enjoy this series. We will continue it throughout the summer, so please stay tuned. You’re going to meet some markedly gifted people who have a passion to share God’s truth and God’s gospel through this unique digital platform.

Obviously, for this series to be successful I need your help. Please share with others about this series. I’m just preaching to the choir if regular blog readers catch on to this series. Tell your friends about this series by word of mouth. Help them create a twitter account or have a feedly RSS reader account. And yes! Retweet. Like. Subscribe. Share. Help others discover this digital treasure trove of bloggers who serve the Church via this medium.

These interviews will post each Thursday during the coming weeks. We’ve already got an excellent lineup of bloggers who are participating in the series. Below is the current schedule, which we will be updating as the queue of bloggers develops.
 
Discovering Christian Bloggers Interview Schedule:
May 9 – Aaron Armstrong
May 16 – Trevin Wax
May 23 – Stephen Altrogge
May 30 – Mike Leake
June 6 – Gloria Furman

StephenAltroggeToday’s Featured Blogger: 
Stephen Altrogge works as a pastor at Sovereign Grace Church of Indiana, PA. He has written a number of worship songs that have been included on Sovereign Grace Music albums. Stephen is the author of the book Game Day For the Glory of God: A Guide For Athletes, Fans, and Wanabes (Crossway 2008), and The Greener Grass Conspiracy: Finding Contentment on Your Side of the Fence (Crossway 2011). He is also the author of the e-book Create: Stop Making Excuses and Start Making Stuff (Crossway 2012).

1. What is your website/blog url? What would you describe as being the profile of your blog? What Christian niche do you best serve?

www.theblazingcenter.com - The blog is written by my dad and me, both of us being pastors. We speak mostly to the average, reformed, evangelical Christian. Our goal is to connect the deep truths of scripture to the realities of life. We want to help people be doers of the word, not hearers only.

2. How did your blogging ministry begin?

Hmm, sometime in 2007 I believe. So I’ve been at this blogging business for about six years now. That’s pretty hard to believe. When I first started blogging there was no such thing as sharing a post on Facebook, if that’s any indicator.

3. What is the most meaningful post you have written and why?

I’m not sure if I can answer this question. I’ve written several thousand posts, so it’s pretty difficult to narrow it down to one post. I’ve written several posts on depression and anxiety that have ministered to many people (http://www.theblazingcenter.com/category/depression). I wrote a post about why Apple products make you a better Christian, which seemed to give people a good chuckle (http://www.theblazingcenter.com/2010/09/does-using-apple-products-make-you-a-better-christian.html).

4. What is the most popular post that you have written? Why do you think it gained such extensive readership?

My most popular post was entitled Dear Moms, Jesus Wants You To Chill Out (http://www.theblazingcenter.com/2012/10/dear-moms-jesus-wants-you-to-chill-out.html). I think the reason it was so popular was that it struck an emotional chord with so many frazzled moms. So many moms feel like they need to do it all. They feel like they need to be the ultimate Proverbs 31 woman, who homeschool their kids, make all their own bread, eat only organic food, and do one hour devotions with their children. While all these things are good, they are not necessarily biblical. When mom’s try to do it all, the end result can actually be bondage and misery. I think this post helped lots of moms understand this truth.

5. What has been your inspiration to write? Why have you been inspired to write?

I write because I love to write. I write because I want to see people love Jesus more. When those two things come together, I feel like I must write.

Posted in: Featured Posts, Interviews / Tagged: , , , ,

View-Worthy: 5.17.13

May 17, 2013 7:00 am / Leave a Comment /

There are a lot of excellent Christian bloggers out there and many of them post daily. In an effort to assist readers find valuable reading, I ReTweet my three favorite reads that I’ve read each day.

View-Worthy is the daily post at jtcochran.com which shares these view-worthy reads from the previous day. All I’ve done is embedded my ReTweets from the previous day. Simply click through the link to enjoy these excellent reads. I encourage you to add these bloggers or blogs to your blog roll, rss feed, or follow them on twitter.

 

Posted in: View Worthy / Tagged: , ,

Fridays are for Book Giveaways: As You Go by Alvin Reid

May 17, 2013 6:00 am / Leave a Comment /

As You Go
The Book:

Today’s students long for a rich, meaningful faith. They want something more than a moral code and therapeutic worship that leaves them unsatisfied and uninspired. Speaker, author, and evangelism professor Alvin L. Reid reveals a key to capturing students’ hearts for life: a missional youth ministry. Through practical teaching and powerful application tools, discover how giving teens a grander purpose and vision and encouraging them to see all of life as a mission field transforms their faith, their lives, and the world.

The Author:

Alvin L. Reid is a professor of evangelism and student ministry at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary as well as a popular speaker and author. He has written numerous books on student ministry, evangelism, missional Christianity, and spiritual awakenings. Two of his books are Raising the Bar: Ministry to Youth in the New Millennium and Convergent Church: Missional Worshipers in an Emerging Culture.

The Giveaway:

Enter the giveaway by filling out this simple form and captcha below. Giveaway closes on Sunday night May 19 at 11:59pm. The winner will be contacted Monday morning. Only one entry per person please.

Please sign me up for this week’s book giveaway:

Your Name (required)

Your Email (required)

Please Complete the CAPTCHA

captcha

Posted in: Giveaway / Tagged: , , , ,

View-Worthy: 5.16.13

May 16, 2013 7:00 am / Leave a Comment /

This is the daily post at jtcochran.com which shares view-worthy reads from the previous day. All I’ve done is embedded my ReTweets from the day before. Simply click through the link to enjoy these excellent reads. I encourage you to add these bloggers to your blog roll, rss feed, or follow them on twitter.

 

Posted in: View Worthy / Tagged: , , ,

Discovering Christian Blogging: Blogger Trevin Wax

May 16, 2013 6:00 am / Leave a Comment /

Series Introduction:
Christian Blogging is not only popular but it is also a profession. Blogs as a medium are a valuable resource to receive spiritual edification, news, popular commentary on current events through a Christian lens, and insight to finding valuable resources (books, music, et al.) at discounted prices. Blogs essentially are a wonderful learning environment accessed at a reader’s leisure.

Yet, many Christians are not aware of this valuable resource. Not only this but they are not familiar with who to follow on platforms such as Twitter or to subscribe to via e-mail or their RSS Reader like Feedly.The purpose of this series is to identify and interview exceptional Christian Bloggers in order to introduce people to their blogging ministry. I hope you enjoy this series. We will continue it throughout the summer, so please stay tuned. You’re going to meet some markedly gifted people who have a passion to share God’s truth and God’s gospel through this unique digital platform.

Obviously, for this series to be successful I need your help. Please share with others about this series. I’m just preaching to the choir if regular blog readers catch on to this series. Tell your friends about this series by word of mouth. Help them create a twitter account or have a feedly RSS reader account. And yes! Retweet. Like. Subscribe. Share. Help others discover this digital treasure trove of bloggers who serve the Church via this medium.

These interviews will post each Thursday during the coming weeks. We’ve already got an excellent lineup of bloggers who are participating in the series. Below is the current schedule, which we will be updating as the queue of bloggers develops.

Discovering Christian Bloggers Interview Schedule:
May 9 – Aaron Armstrong
May 16 – Trevin Wax
May 23 – Stephen Altrogge
May 30 – Mike Leake
June 6 – Gloria Furman

Today’s Featured Blogger:

Trevin Wax

Trevin Wax is Managing Editor of The Gospel Project, a small group curriculum developed by LifeWay Christian Resources. A former missionary and pastor, Wax is a popular blogger (Kingdom People) and a contributor to Christianity Today and other publications. His most recent books are “Counterfeit Gospels” (Moody, 2011) and “Holy Subversion” (Crossway, 2010). Look for Clear Winter Nights (a theology in story) releasing this fall (Multnomah, 2013).

1. What is your website/blog url? What would you describe as being the profile of your blog? What Christian niche do you best serve?

trevinwax.com

Conservative evangelical

Gospel-centered, mission-driven evangelical insights for church leaders

2. How did your blogging ministry begin?

I started blogging in seminary, just writing daily on a number of topics I found interesting. It started out as a hobby. A couple years later, I was challenged to make it more of a ministry, so I shifted my mindset to serving the people reading my blog every day.

3. What is the most meaningful post that  you have written and why? 

I’m not sure I can point to one post in particular that is meaningful to me. There are too many, and the variety of the posts is so strong. I think the post I wrote after my grandfather died is one that means a lot to me personally. It’s an attempt to grieve in a distinctly Christian manner. http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2012/01/31/tears-and-laughter/

4. What is the most popular post that you have written? Why do you think it gained such extensive readership?

How I Wish the Homosexuality Debate Would Go. http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2011/10/18/how-i-wish-the-homosexuality-debate-would-go/

There are lots of Christians who are unsatisfied with how the debate over homosexuality is going in society – both with how the discussion is framed and how we seem unable to respond graciously and yet with truth and conviction. This was an attempt to do that – stay tethered to the Bible, bring the discussion back to the gospel and repentance, and yet show grace to those who struggle. Needless to say, it resonated with people.

5. What has been your inspiration to write? Why have you been inspired to write?

I love ideas. I don’t enjoy the writing process as much as I enjoy the careful articulation and dissemination of ideas and information. I suppose I’m inspired to look into things and try to see them from different angles. I think curiosity is one of the most important elements of a consistently interesting blog. http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevinwax/2011/08/15/the-curious-case-for-curiosity-in-blogging/
Posted in: Featured Posts, Interviews / Tagged: , , , , , ,

View-Worthy: 5.15.13

May 15, 2013 6:00 am / Leave a Comment /

This is the daily post at jtcochran.com which shares view-worthy reads from the previous day. All I’ve done is embedded my ReTweets from the day before. Simply click through the link to enjoy these excellent reads. I encourage you to add these bloggers to your blog roll, rss feed, or follow them on twitter.

 

 

 

Posted in: View Worthy

Intentional Parenting: Caught with Paint on Your Hand

May 15, 2013 6:00 am / Leave a Comment /

We’re in the process of putting our house on the market. Part of the process is staging the home for sale. This involved repainting our front door from the spunky purple color that my wife liked to a more neutral tone. Yesterday I was prepping the “job site” for the last coat of paint. I had gotten out all my implements: the paint, paint key, paintbrush, and rag.

My children were busy inside playing. They had just raided our hall closet for jackets. I don’t know why but now that it is finally Spring in Tulsa my kids want it to be winter again. I opened the front door to retrieve the coats from the floor and to get the ones on their person so that I could return them to the closet. Wrong move, especially when you have a two-year old boy.

Asher did an end run around me deftly. I did not hear or see his movements. I turned around just in time to see him reach into the paint can with his entire left hand. Can you imagine it? A two-year old with a hand dripping with light grey paint.

I instantly cried, “No!” I’m not sure if it was the kind of “No!” like, “You’re in trouble!” or the kind of “No!” that indicated my anguish. It was likely a little of both. All I know is that Asher looked at his hand and started to panic. Again, I don’t know if he was scared because of my cry or because he just realized that his hand was entirely covered in paint.

That’s not the worse part. Next, because of fear, he just started flailing his paint smothered hand wildly. Have you ever seen Jackson Pollock at work? He’s that famous artist that does paint art by splashing it and flinging it on canvas. Apparently you don’t have to have a paintbrush or sponges to be successful at this art form. You merely have to have five digits on a hand.

Thankfully my son’s canvas was not the front door that I was about to put the last coat of paint on or the trim or any other part of the home. No. The canvas was the human shield named Joey. I wrapped him up in my arms, comforted him, and took him immediately to the outdoor faucet. I quickly but gently washed off his little hands. He was quite frightened by the whole ordeal.

We salvaged his jeans and shoes but his shirt and my shirt saw the bottom of the trash can that day. At the end of the day as I tucked him into bed I reminded the two of us that we are disobedient sinners and we need the gospel.

“Little man. I love you. I’m sorry I got upset today. I’m also sorry that you got your hand covered in paint. I know that was frightening. You had no idea what would happen when you stuck your little hand in the paint can, but now I’m sure you know the consequence. Please don’t put your hand where it doesn’t belong,” I said, suddenly realizing the gospel implications.”Dude. Here’s the deal. We all do things we are not supposed to do. When we do these things, it gets really messy. Just like with the paint today. Then we take the messiness and get it all over others. Fortunately God sent His only son to take on all the messiness. He’s the target of the mess. In the midst of it all Jesus wraps us up in His arms and washes our hands clean of the mess.”

Okay, so I know that a two-year old likely will not catch everything I said, but I will say this. As I shared this with him, he said, “Oh. Oh!” a whole lot. He also started looking at that left hand of his like he was visualizing the messy paint all over his hand again. Then he started picking at the dried paint still on his fingernails.

We never know how much they understand at this young age, but it is never too young to remind little people of the wonder of the gospel. In addition, it reminds us of God’s relentless love for His children and how the gospel propels us to requite that love.

Posted in: Intentional Parenting / Tagged: , , ,

Gospel Wholeness

May 14, 2013 6:00 am / Leave a Comment /

From Gospel Deeps by Jared Wilson:

Wholeness is an aim of the gospel (1 Thess. 5.23) and completeness is an aim of God’s words (2 Tim. 3.16-17), so God’s wholeness and completeness are brought to bear, condescending in Trinitarian concert. It is from his fullness that “we have all received grace upon grace.” (John 1.16)

The gospel is meant to make us whole and to convey the wholeness of God. Telos is the greek term meaning perfect, wholeness or complete. 1 Cor. 13.10 says, “but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.” Some people think this refers to the completion of the canon. But the astute reader will realize that this refers to the consummation of the age when Christ returns and brings perfect restoration to all creation. This is the point, Christ is perfect (telos) and we await for his perfection to return and perfect all of creation including us. This is gospel wholeness. When the gospel is made whole in such a way that all revelation is complete, all joy is whole, and all elect humanity is perfected.

You and I should eagerly await this time. You see, the gospel is not just Christological (reasoning concerning Christ), soteriological (reasoning concerning salvation), and ecclessialogical (reasoning concerning the church). The gospel is eschatological (reasoning concerning last events). The gospel is forward thinking and restorative in nature.

In order for us to adopt a perspective of gospel wholeness we have to be straining forward and looking toward Christ’s return. This does not mean we need to chart out the end-times or agonize over the details of apocalyptic literature. It means that our inward being should groan as all creation groans, looking for the restoration of all things (Rom. 8.22-23). Our soul should echo the groans of creation and long with equal longing for Christ’s coming. Do you have that longing? Are you seeking after gospel wholeness?

Posted in: Featured Posts / Tagged: , , , , , ,

View-Worthy: 5.13.13

May 13, 2013 4:50 pm / Leave a Comment /

This is the daily post at jtcochran.com which shares view-worthy reads from the previous day. All I’ve done is embedded my ReTweets from the day before. Simply click through the link to enjoy these excellent reads. I encourage you to add these bloggers to your blog roll, rss feed, or follow them on twitter.

 

Posted in: View Worthy / Tagged: , , ,
%d bloggers like this: